“I would like to ask these players: What exactly are you kneeling for and why have you chosen the flag and the anthem to do it? I bet if we asked 100 players, we would get 100 different answers.”

Luckily for Lahren, the players have answered this question! A lot. Here’s what Colin Kaepernick, who was the first player to sit and then later after a discussion with Nate Boyer take a knee during the anthem, said back in 2016 to NFL.com:

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

In early 2016, I began paying attention to reports about the incredible number of unarmed black people being killed by the police. The posts on social media deeply disturbed me, but one in particular brought me to tears: the killing of Alton Sterling in my hometown Baton Rouge, La. This could have happened to any of my family members who still live in the area. I felt furious, hurt and hopeless. I wanted to do something, but didn’t know what or how to do it. All I knew for sure is that I wanted it to be as respectful as possible.

A few weeks later, during preseason, my teammate Colin Kaepernick chose to sit on the bench during the national anthem to protest police brutality. To be honest, I didn’t notice at the time, and neither did the news media. It wasn’t until after our third preseason game on Aug. 26, 2016, that his protest gained national attention, and the backlash against him began.

Michael Bennett, who sat during the national anthem in the 2017 season, had this to say about his reasons in August of this year. They are … surprisingly similar to what Kaepernick and Reid said.

“First of all, I want people to understand that I love the military,” Bennett said. “My father’s in the military. I love hot dogs like any other American. I love football like any other American. But I don’t love segregation. I don’t love riots or oppression.

“I just want to see people have the equality that they deserve. And I want to be able to use this platform to continuously push the message of that.”

They’re not the only ones who have been crystal clear about what message they hope to send — and how they’re doing it, beyond bringing attention to their cause during the playing of the anthem.

On the same day that op-ed was published, Chris Long — who has supported his teammates during their protest during the national anthem — donated his salary for the rest of the season to provide scholarships for students in Charlottesville, Va. Earlier this year, Long donated the first part of his season’s paychecks to promote educational equality after white supremacists took the street in that city.

Kaep has donated almost a million dollars. Chris Long just donated his entire salary. Go look at Kenny Stills, Malcolm Jenkins https://t.co/lLNfe2T9Wt

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